One of the tricky situations for online learning is to help learners adopt the most effective identity for learning. Obviously, if one thinks one “isn’t good at school” one will be handicapped at learning, and alas, many kids from poverty background have adopted that identity somewhere in their educational career. What if that negative dynamic could be changed?
A social learning construct consisting of one’s peers, but also of a talented facilitator/ teacher/ guide/ support person, or two, provides some of the ingredients for adopting a “I’m good at learning” persona or identity. Identifying with “great people” in various fields, as role models or examples of excellence would also help.
This article talks a bit about how kids can identify with great scientists, if they know how they struggled themselves to become “all they can be”. Apparently students can identify with those who have struggled, because they themselves understand struggle.
[gview file=”https://publicservicesalliance.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/Teens-do-better-in-science-when-they-know-Einstein-and-Curie-also-struggled-Quartz.pdf”]